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Butterfield believes he's still in manager mix

Butterfield believes he's still in manager mix

By Jordan Bastian
/
MLB.com |

All Brian Butterfield can do is sit and wait. The Blue Jays' third-base coach has interviewed for the vacant managerial job in Toronto and no one has told him that he is out of the running for the role.

Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has yet to make that phone call.

"The last time that I spoke to Alex, he said that he would call me and let me know," Butterfield told MLB.com on Thursday afternoon. "I haven't spoken to him, so I'm saying no news is good news.

"Until Alex calls and says you're not, I'm just under the impression that I'm still in it. That's basically all I'm going by."

Multiple reports in the past few days have claimed that the Blue Jays have narrowed their search down to three known candidates: Indians first-base coach Sandy Alomar Jr., Red Sox bench coach DeMarlo Hale and Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell.

On Thursday night, Peter Gammons of MLB Network and MLB.com tweeted that three general managers "insisted" that Farrell would land the manager's job with Toronto. "The final list was the product of exhaustive, thoughtful due diligence," Gammons wrote.

Earlier on Thursday, reports out of Boston indicated Butterfield remained a fourth contender.

Butterfield, who is recovering from surgery on his left foot at his home in Maine, saw the latest reports Thursday. According to the Canadian Press, Blue Jays bench coach Nick Leyva was told by Anthopoulos that he was eliminated from the list of candidates.

Butterfield, 52, has served as a coach for the Blue Jays since 2002, working as the team's third-base coach and bench coach throughout his time with the club. He has no managing experience in the big leagues, but did work as a manager in the Yankees' Minor League system prior to joining Toronto's organization.

While Butterfield has enjoyed his time as a coach for the Blue Jays, he has reached a stage where he is confident he could handle the move to the manager's seat. Butterfield's desire to manage has increased over the past few years.

"I really feel at this point in my life, that I may be able to have an even bigger impact on a ballclub," Butterfield said. "I'm not underemphasizing the importance that a coach has. ... That's a huge responsibility for a Major League coach and I don't downplay that.

"But at the same time, I would like to advance to a point where I've got my hands on a little bit of everything."

Butterfield said that he interviewed for the open job -- vacated after Cito Gaston's decision to retire from managing at the end of this past season -- with Anthopoulos on one of the club's off-days in early September. Butterfield declined to go into specifics, respecting Anthopoulos' policy of keeping details of the search close to the vest.

According to some reports, the Blue Jays are expected to make a decision as early as next week. The possibility remains, however, that the process could last until shortly after the conclusion of the World Series.